NEW YORK—Chris Kreider got into the New York Rangers' lineup when Carl Hagelin was suspended in the first round of the playoffs. He's not coming out.

The 20-year-old rookie, who won the NCAA title with Boston College earlier this spring, followed up his strong performance in the Rangers' first-round win over the Ottawa Senators with a goal and an assist in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon, leading New York to a 3-1 victory at Madison Square Garden.

"I'm kind of at a loss for words," Kreider said. "I'm just trying to keep my head down and work hard. Whether or not the puck goes in, I'm just trying to play the same role I play every night and be consistent and be defensively reliable."

Kreider's second career goal was also his second game-winner after he had the decisive tally in Game 6 against Ottawa. The rookie also made a big defensive play on Nick Foligno to set up a goal in Game 7.

Saturday's game was mired in a sleepy 1-1 deadlock until Kreider, with a step on Washington defenseman Roman Hamrlik, took a beautiful lead pass from second-year Rangers center Derek Stepan and fired a slapshot past Braden Holtby from the slot with exactly 13 minutes left in the third period.

"There was an opening, so I thought I'd hit it, and Stepan made a nice pass," he said. "The minute I got it, I would usually try to take that to the net, but I had to pull up since I was so tired. I was just trying to get it on net."

Kreider turned provider 90 seconds later, setting up Brad Richards, who went unchecked to the front of the net and slipped another shot past Holtby, who had a .940 save percentage in the Capitals' first-round upset of the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins. The rookie netminder allowed three goals on 14 shots on Saturday, while Henrik Lundqvist got the win with 17 saves for New York.

Both teams advanced to the second round with thrilling Game 7 victories, the Capitals with an overtime triumph in Boston, the Rangers with a down-to-the-wire home win over the Ottawa Senators. At the start of their encounter on Saturday, both teams appeared to have left it all on the ice in those previous contests.

The Rangers did have some jump in their step off the opening puck drop, controlling action in the Capitals' zone for nearly three minutes, with limited interruptions. New York could not, however, muster any kind of real test for Holtby—the rookie goaltender had to make only four saves in the entire first period, and all from defensemen. Ryan McDonagh had three of the Rangers' four shots, while Marc Staal, who did score in Game 7 of the first round, had the other.

Meanwhile, the Capitals were hardly better. Four of Washington's six shots in the first period came on a power play after Staal was called for interference at 12:16—his takedown of Matt Hendricks prevented what would have been the best scoring chance of the opening 20 minutes. Washington's effort on that power play may have been better had Alex Ovechkin not broken his stick on a shanked shot attempt, spoiling the momentum.

Washington had one other first-period opportunity with the man advantage, stemming from Mike Rupp running over Holtby, but Alex Semin spoiled that with a mindless slash to the back of Ryan Callahan's leg.

Staal took another penalty 6:26 into a second period that started with a continuation of dull hockey, this time for holding. The Capitals were not doing much with the power play opportunity until Brandon Prust was called for boarding, giving Washington a 5-on-3 for 33 seconds. During that two-man advantage, there finally was excitement and playoff intensity, as Ruslan Fedotenko put on a one-man penalty-killing show with a block on an Ovechkin shot, a clearance all the way down the ice and a headlong dive to get his stick in the way of a lead pass.

Fedotenko then got on the scoresheet as New York broke the deadlock with 7:22 left in the second. The veteran winger had the primary assist on Artem Anisimov's first goal of the playoffs, but it was Anisimov who did all the work to score it, providing an unsolicited piggy-back ride for Capitals defenseman Mike Green while beating Holtby on a wraparound.

The game's second goal, on the other hand, had everything to do with the primary assist. Washington evened the score with 3.5 seconds left in the second period when Brooks Laich made a perfect saucer pass on a rush up the ice, allowing Jason Chimera to redirect the puck past Henrik Lundqvist while Ovechkin, flying up the middle of the rink, served only as a highly-skilled decoy.